Historical and Cultural Connections – Objectivity in the Media
An Objective Point of View
What is objectivity, and why is it important in journalism and the media? What is the difference between fact and opinion? Although the rise of technology has facilitated easy access to news from around the world, the brisk pace of news reporting has the potential to compromise journalistic integrity. View this presentation to explore how technology has affected objectivity in the media and the importance of maintaining objective viewpoints in journalism. Click on the player button to begin.
View a printable version of the interactivity.
Introduction to Literary Nonfiction Study
Throughout this module, you will have an opportunity to read and study a work of nonfiction literature. Your choices are the books Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer or The Color of Water by James McBride. Each book offers a different perspective of Postmodernist literature and modern nonfiction. However, Krakauer's Into the Wild is a type of literary journalism while McBride's book The Color of Water is an autobiography. Both pieces of narrative nonfiction incorporate the elements and characteristics of Postmodernism and the contemporary era and share a thematic similarity: the search for a personal identity. Will you choose to study Krakauer's account of Christopher McCandless's ill-fated, Thoreau-esque journey into the Alaskan wilderness or McBride's tribute to his mother that depicts his struggle to understand his past?
Jon Krakauer
Jon Krakauer was born in Massachusetts on April 12, 1954, but he mostly grew up in Oregon. His father introduced him to mountain climbing at the young age of eight. Right after graduating high school, he made his first dangerous solo ascent in Alaska and continued his passion of elite mountaineering throughout his life. His climbing experiences have often served as inspiration for his writing; he has published numerous articles on mountaineering for Outside magazine, and one of his first bestselling books Into Thin Air chronicles his first-hand account of the tragic 1996 Mount Everest disaster. Other notable examples of Krakauer's investigative journalism include the books Under the Banner of Heaven and Where Men Win Glory: The Odyssey of Pat Tillman.
Into the Wild
Jon Krakauer's first bestselling book was Into the Wild. The book is an expansion of an article initially published in Outside magazine that retells the life of a young man named Chris McCandless, whose body was found in the Alaskan wilderness in 1992. After publishing the article in Outside, Krakauer continued to explore the life of McCandless, interview the people whom he met and impressed, and investigate the circumstances of his death. He discovered that McCandless graduated from Emory University, gave away his life savings to charity, and set off on a journey throughout North America to find the ultimate meaning of life. Although he had completely cut off ties with his family and suffered a strained relationship with his parents, McCandless befriended many people throughout his adventures and left a lasting, meaningful impression on them. Into the Wild's exploration of McCandless's extraordinary story was made into a critically acclaimed film adaptation of the same name in 2007.
James McBride
James McBride was born on September 11, 1957. His mother, Ruth, immigrated to the United States from Poland and gave up her Jewish roots to marry an African American man. Together, the couple had eight children. His father died of cancer before McBride was born. His mother eventually remarried and had four more children. McBride loved his stepfather and enjoyed a strong, caring relationship with him, but his stepfather also died when McBride was a young teenager. Although the family never had much and struggled through poverty, all twelve of Ruth's children graduated with a college education. McBride himself excelled in playing the saxophone and graduated from Oberlin College with a degree in music composition; he later earned a degree in journalism from Columbia University. In addition to writing for some of the nation's most well-known publications such as The Washington Post, The New York Times, and the Chicago Tribune, McBride has published several novels including Miracle at St. Anna and Song Yet Sung. His novel The Good Lord Bird won the National Book Award in 2013.
The Color of Water
James McBride's autobiography The Color of Water is an account of his early life as well as a tribute to his Jewish mother, Ruth. The book's chapters alternate between McBride's recollections of his childhood experiences and interviews in which his mother tells her own life story. The Color of Water explores topics such as identity, religion, racism, family, education, drug addiction, poverty, abortion, and personal strength. The triumph of Ruth over her many obstacles such as the abuse of her father, the abandonment of her Jewish family, and the danger of marrying a black man in the 1940s has awed and inspired countless readers. McBride's own struggles with understanding who he is and rising above drug addiction and poverty to achieve a successful career is equally as captivating. As McBride uncovers the history of his family in The Color of Water, he reveals the ultimate meaning of love with raw emotion and unforgettable people.
Into the Wild
Read Chapters 1–4 of Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer. What elements of Postmodernism do you see in these opening chapters? Can you trust the narrator? Is the account of McCandless's journey objective? Why or why not?
The Postmodernist employs the use of multiple perspectives. Notice how Jon Krakauer opens his book with a map, a quotation from a postcard and an introduction featuring Jim Gallien's impressions of Chris McCandless. The second chapter gives the story of three friends moose hunting on September 6, 1992. Jon Krakauer published this book in 1996 in consideration of many issues in contemporary society, including the search by individuals for a place in this world and man's desire to be self-sustainable.
The Color of Water
Read Chapters 1–6 of The Color of Water by James McBride. What elements of Postmodernism do you see in these opening chapters? Can you trust the narrator? Is the account of Ruth's and James McBride's lives objective? Why or why not?
The Postmodernist employs the use of multiple narrators. Notice how James McBride opens his book with italicized writing to point out his mother is narrating. In comparison, Chapter 2 is not written in italicized print because it is told from James McBride's point of view. A Postmodernist recognizes cultural diversity and the deep issues associated with a diverse population. James McBride demonstrates how his mother's Jewish society disowned her and considered her dead when she married a man outside of her social, cultural, and religious class.
Fact Versus Opinion Review
So how does one determine if a story is based on fact or opinion? Recall that facts can be proven true or false whereas opinions cannot be measured by an objective standard. Now that you have explored objectivity and the difference between fact and opinion, review your knowledge in this non-graded activity. Read each statement and determine whether it is a fact or opinion, and then select the appropriate answer. Click on the player button to get started.